A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

Looking at going into Medical Transcription - tomsgirl

Posted: Nov 14, 2011

I am looking into the Medical Transcription field but wanted to get info about the field from those that are in it before I take the plunge. I'm not looking at earning a huge salary or medical benefits etc, just some extra to help the HH income. I'm looking at Career Step for my certificate. Any factual info or career experience would be appreciated.

go to andrews - and

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there is not much of a job market, just so you are aware beforehand.

Be advised - been MT too long

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That not only is the job market almost nil, but the pay has continued to decrease and voice recognition is taking a stronghold on the future of MT making a good living anymore. Please, see if there is something else that interests you before you spend money on the education for a certificate......

Medical transcription and job market - luckyladyinca

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If you want to succeed in this field, get a really good education and internship through your local college with a first rate anatomy class, etc, and network at the AHDI meetings. I first went to one of those technical schools, which was a waste of time and money despite getting straight A's and went to my local college, where the instructor set me up with my internship transcribing operative reports, and then I worked for hospitals, clinics, and offices, etc. Best education ever. I am buried in work, turn down accounts, and make a good living (I used to make extremely good money, but....). I do get calls from physicians who do not want to do EMR and developed my own niche. Quality does count. Good luck. If you go above and beyond, you will always have work on your desk at a good price.

tomsgirl - Old Pro

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Don't consider anything but Andrews. (No, I do not work for them and never have.) You might read some of my other posts for my take on the profession. I just retired after 40+ years, both as as an MT and an MTSO. Perhaps something I say there will help you. Please be very careful in your selection of schools. It can make all the difference in the world as to whether you get hired. (And do be advised that most companies require 3-5 years of acute care transcription experience before they will even interview you.) I wish you good luck in your decision.

tomsgirl - mamt

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Hi. I don't usually get involved with the "New MTs" board, as I think Old Pro always has the best advice. That being said, here's my take on the current medical transcription field:

First of all, I am not real familiar with these certificate programs for MT, just that most people say Andrews and M-TEC are the best. I've been around so long that I don't believe they even had these certificate programs when I started. I have an Associates Degree in Medical Records Technology, where I studied all aspects of the medical records department including transcription, coding, correspondence, etc. Eventually, I ended up enjoying medical transcription the most and that's where I've been for about 27 years.

Fast forward to 2011. I can't say I am very happy with what has happened to the MT profession, especially with these "large" MTSOs. I have (so far) managed to do extremely well as an MT/supervisor/QA/former MTSO, BUT if you asked me today where I think I'll be in one, two, three years, etc., I would have no answer for you. So far, I have managed to avoid speech recognition (speech wreck as so many call it) and am fortunately still only doing "straight" transcription, which I love. I take pride in my work and really enjoy the fact that I can learn something new each and every day.

So, to answer your question, if I had it to do over again, I would probably say no, I would choose a different career path. Good luck to you!

tomsgirl - mamt - jan2

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Where in the world can you avoid speech recognition?

jan2 - mamt

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IMHO, there are many MTs avoiding speech recognition and will continue to do so. Also, I can only hope that somewhere, somehow it goes away.

mamt - Old Pro

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Thank you for the kind compliment, but I think we ALL have something to contribute. I have to agree with you that I am not so happy with the profession right now. I made more than twice in 1996 what I will make this year! More than TWICE. I needed to work at home for various family reasons which are irrelevant to this discussion, but I have to tell you that I came to much prefer working at home than making a horrendeous commute. I know, I know, people are supposed to love commuting in California, but I came to hate it. When I got a chance to work for someone else rather than for myself and to work from home, I thought I had hit the jackpot! All went well until the company I was working at home for was eaten by MQ. Finally, I decided I was allergic to squid and went with a mid sized (under 500 MTs) company and that was great. Not too long ago my niece wanted me to help her become an MT. I told her that I would not help her do it because I did not think it would be a good investment of her time, too iffy, sort of like playing the commodities market. You can hit it really big or you can go bankrupt. There is no telling which will happen. Fortunately, I never went bankrupt as an MT/MTSO (many have, sadly), but I sure had my standard of living changed when MQ ate our old company. My niece went on to become an EMT, a much more physically demanding job than MT, but that was her choice and I supported her in it. If someone really has their heart set on being an MT, I say try it, you will never know until you do. But be very, very careful of which school you choose. In my humble view, it is ESSENTIAL that you have real live instructors (like at Andrews) rather than a school that provides an answer key where you self-correct. As we have said a million times on here, you cannot know what you do not not know. If I were still in business today, I would not hesitate for a second to hire an Andrews grad. The other schools, not so much. Good luck to anyone choosing to enter the profession. Maybe you will be one of the guiding lights that will help revamp things!

Thinking of going into Medical Transcription - Oldie Alice MT

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DO NOT,do not go into being an MT. It is a dying field, especially with Nuance coming out with Dragon software...have been doing this 34 years and make less every year...look into another field!

DONT GO INTO MT field,it is dying rapidly - oldie alice MT, again

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consider another field..seriously made a LOT of money in 80s and 90s and since then barely eke out a living doing transcribing especially since speech recognition....

No business is doing well these days. - See message

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I own a business that has always been successful. I now make 7% that's 7 per cent of what I used to make. It doesn't matter what you do for a living these days. Nothing is doing well.

RE: Looking into Going into Medical Transcription - LDMC

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Please--this is good advice--do something else. Even if you don't mind the pitiful pay, we are being phased out. I've been an MT for six years and have watched the work slowly decline. EMR and voice recognition are both taking over. This field is going to be obsolete. I wish I could be more encouraging but this is the truth. I'm hoping to start school again at age 47.

I beg of you. - CMTx2

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PLEASE do not waste your money or time on MT school. It's a dying field where old pros with more knowledge than a 2nd-year resident are forced to fight for scraps.

If you do this, you are doing the equivalent of starting a horse-and-buggy business in 1926.

Don't listen to the naysayer's. There are thousands of us who are MTs who sm - OldPro

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are happy in our careers, make decent money and like their employers. There are many good services out there, and even the big ones that are constantly bashed have hundreds and thousands of transcriptionists who are happy.

If you are dedicated, have good grammar skills, love words, can type accurately and reasonably fast, have some technical/computer know-how and give your employer a good day's work for a good day's pay, you are headed to the right career.

Besides, we want to get rid of the rude, hateful, ugly people who call themselves transcriptionists but really just get dropped from company after company when they can't perform as they are expected to.

The expectations are reasonable and fair; there are just many unqualified, lazy, not-so-bright people who think they can type so they can transcribe.

Dropping like flies - CMTx2

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As I've posted here before, I am one of the very lucky few who has a good hourly job at a hospital (I telecommute). I am all too aware of what an unusual opportunity this is. I know what the MTs are being paid by the service we use for our overflow, and it is appalling...all the more when you consider they are ICs with no benefits, no paid time off, and are also taking the added 7.5% self-employment tax hit. These are GOOD MTs, too! What a shame.

Yes, through a sequence of odd occurrences and simply being in the right place at the right time on the right coast, I've got a sweet job. But I can't be sure that will last more than a couple of years with the coming of EHR. As it is already, when someone leaves or retires, they are not being replaced. We're dwindling away to nothing.

It's unrealistic and even irresponsible to encourage someone to enter into this field these days. I would have been the first to encourage a working mom into MT were this 1987.

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